Let's turn in our Bibles to Zechariah 8 tonight. As Bill mentioned, we talked last week, the first half of it, Two parts to this, there's a delegation sent from the city of Bethel to the building project there in Jerusalem, and they're inquiring of the priests. Whether they should continue to observe the fasts that they had instituted really to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile, and now that God had brought a remnant back and was rebuilding the temple, maybe they didn't need to do that anymore. Well, we saw before the prophet answers this question, he really chastises the people, and so we read about that in chapter 7. He called into question their whole motivation in their worship in the first place, that they really weren't doing it for God, they were doing it for selfish reasons. And then he reminds them what happened to their fathers, the whole reason they were sent into exile, and so much judgment had come upon them, was because they weren't living to please God, and your worship, of course, has to be an extension of your life, which has to be dedicated to God. So now we come in chapter 8 to the second part of this. Zechariah continues to instruct them, really, about the nature of their question, what it means to be a faithful worshiper of God. and a servant of God, and then he finally, towards the end of chapter 8, will actually address their particular question about these fasts. So we will read now chapter 8 of Zechariah, verses 1 to 23. Let us listen to the word of God. I'm reading this evening from the New King James Version. Again the word of the Lord of Hosts came, saying, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, I am zealous for Zion with great zeal, with great fervor I am zealous for her. Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus says the Lord of hosts, old men and old women shall sit again in the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand, because of great age. The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, will it also be marvelous in my eyes? Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East and from the land of the West. I will bring them back, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who have been hearing in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets who spoke in the day the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord of Hosts, that the temple might be built. For before these days there were no wages for man, nor any hire for beast. There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in, for I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor. But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in former days, says the Lord of Hosts, for the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their due. I will cause the remnant of his people to possess all these, and it shall come to pass that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I shall save you, and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear, let your hands be strong. For thus says the Lord of hosts, just as I determined to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the Lord Apostle, and I would not relent. So again, in these days I am determined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear. These are the things you shall do. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor. Give judgment in your gaze for truth, justice, and peace. Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor. And do not love a false oath. For all these things I hate, says the Lord. And the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me, saying, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts. I myself will go also. Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, In those days ten men from every language of the nation shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. An older woman that I know well once told me that she was singing in her congregation and was told after the service by another woman in the congregation that her singing, she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, in effect. And as a result, this older woman that I know never sang again in church for the rest of her life. And this is despite the fact that her minister said, you know, this is not the attitude God has. God welcomes our singing. It's not that we have to pass some test. and God wants you to sing, and this woman never, to my knowledge, sang again publicly. And this is a sad example of the kind of thing that happens often where something in our past becomes a very prominent feature of our present and dictates the way we live in the present. Well, the other day I was visiting with a university student who's facing a lot of uncertainty about his future, and has a lot of questions about whether he's in the right field, and maybe he should change, and doesn't know if he's headed in the right direction. And he had some other things going on in his life, and I was trying to focus him in on, you know, what to do now, in the present. Here's some things you can control and that you should be doing. And it was clear he wasn't going to do those things. Because he was so consumed with worry and anxiety over the uncertainties of the future, things that he didn't know. And so we understand this happens also. Uncertainty about the future can also cause us problems with living in the present. And we know neither of these things is unusual. Christians are sometimes haunted by their past. and the specific sins that they are wrestling with or opportunities missed that come back and haunt them. At the same time, sometimes Christians are greatly frustrated by their future and these things affect them in the present. And this really is the case of these people that we're reading about here in the book of Zechariah. God is brought back from a terrible situation. They find themselves in a difficult circumstance where they're trying to rebuild their society. Very few of them have returned. And they're dealing with great obstacles, hostile neighbors, and they're also dealing with their past, which has some pretty bad things in it. and a future that is completely uncertain. And this delegation has come from Bethel, we read about that in chapter 7, asking for some advice on how to worship God and whether they should continue these fasts. And God, as we talked about last week, reminded them of all the things they'd done wrong before that had led to the exile. And see, what is God's purpose in that? Does He want them beating themselves up about the past? And how is this going to help them live properly in the present time? Well, God doesn't want them paralyzed by their past, and He doesn't want them terrified about their future. And I think we'll see that as we work our way through this passage, that I hope what we'll see is that in Jesus Christ, God has taken care of both our pasts and our futures. And as a result of that, we have to learn to live in the present. In the present, trusting in our Savior. And I hope we'll see how that falls out tonight as we work through this passage. Now, you children, if you want to draw a picture, there are several things in here that you might draw as we work our way through. Promises God has made to His people. And I'll try to point out some of them, but you try to listen as we go along and see if you can draw something that talks about the promises God makes to His people. Well, let's see, as our first point this evening, that as a person who's been saved from your sins, you need to learn from, but not dwell in the past. Now, remember the context, again, of chapter 8. If you look back in chapter 7, when they came with this question, what should we do about these fasts, in verse 5, that God, through Zacharias, says to them, say to all the people of the land and to the priests, when you fasted and mourned, in the 5th and 7th months during those 70 years. Did you really fast for me? For me? Didn't you do it all for yourselves? You were selfish people. And then in verses 11 and following, he tells them that they had made their hearts like flint and had refused to hear God's law. And that's why God had punished them and punished them severely. You know, these people are already struggling with some discouragement here. Why is God piling on, as it were? There are some times in my family, and I don't want to spread this around too far, but I talk out loud to myself at times, and maybe you do that too. I don't really think it's a sign of being crazy, but sometimes I verbalize things that I'm thinking. And so, I'll be off somewhere, and something will come to mind from my past that I really regret saying or doing, and I will just, ah, and Amy says, what's wrong? What happened? And then I say, nothing, I'm just thinking about something, see? And this happens to us. Things come back from our past. I thought it was very interesting this morning that Andy Horning mentioned this idea that part of his conversion was God bringing these things from his past to mine. But this happens sometimes, and in fact, Satan uses this against us. Doesn't he? To get us dwelling on the mistakes of the past and see if we're discouraged by that, it makes us difficult for us to live as we should in the present. Well, this is not the purpose God has in bringing up the past. God wants them to learn from the past. But see, He moves from going over this judgment in the last part of chapter 7 to reassuring them about His stance toward them. So you look in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 8, I am zealous for Zion with a great zeal. With great fervor, I am zealous for her." See, the picture here is a husband and a wife. He loves his people. He's zealous, and your translation may say jealous, in the good sense. He's protected. He has an exclusive love for his people, and he wants them to know that. His bringing up the past is not designed to discourage them. He's got another purpose in it. He wants them to know he is a faithful husband who loves his people. And then how will that be manifested? Look in verse 3. I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. He's coming back to live among them. Part of this is reaffirming in their minds that this temple project, which at this point is about halfway done, they've been building on it for two years, and they have another two years before it'll be finished, but he's assuring them that the temple will be rebuilt. That was the physical Sign of his dwelling with them, but more important than that. He is going to live with his people again Because he loves them and so you see what he calls his city the city of truth in verse 3 the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain and I want you to see here again. These things are pointing us beyond the city of Jerusalem They're pointing us ahead to the church and you see that clearly in verse 8 and I will bring them back. He's talking about the exiles there that haven't come back and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be my people and I will be their God. That sounds familiar to anybody. This is the heart of the covenant of grace right there. I will be their people and they will be my God. God loves his elect. And he's committed himself to living and loving his people, his promise to dwell with his people. And we know that these promises are applied to the Church, and that he dwells with his people through the Savior. So, 2 Corinthians 6.16, Paul tells the Corinthians, you are the temple of the living God, as I have said, As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. 1 Peter 2.5, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. God will dwell in their midst. Revelation 21.3, the picture of the new heavens and the new earth. I heard a loud voice saying from heaven, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God." This is the heart of this, this promise that God will dwell with His people, that God will be their God, and that they will be His. This is the context for understanding God's bringing up their past. If you are in Jesus Christ, if you are one of His children, In a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, he has taken care of your past. Whatever it is, he's taken care of it. And he wants them to know that as well, that he has forgiven them of all their sins. So why remember the past? Why remind them? Well, there are lessons to learn. And there are things to avoid, and God wants them to know this. You shouldn't go back there. Don't commit the same sins that you've committed in the past. But the context is there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ, that Jesus has forgiven you for whatever it is. Martin Lloyd-Jones is a famous minister in England who was working in the early part of the 1900s. And one of his series of sermons is published as a book called Spiritual Depression. He deals with different causes that cause discouragement in the Christian life. And one of the ones that he mentions there is dwelling on the past, being caught up in our past. And he says this about it. He says, we must never for a second worry about anything that cannot be affected or changed by us. It is a waste of energy. If you can do nothing about a situation, stop thinking about it. Never again look back at it. Never think of it. If you do, it is the devil defeating you. There is nothing that is more reprehensible than to allow anything that belongs to the past to cause you to be a failure in the present. And he uses Paul as an example here. Can you imagine the life of Paul? Paul, who had actively fought against Christians and seen Christians murdered? If Paul had allowed himself to be paralyzed by his past, he never would have been able to do anything. But by the grace of God, what does he say? I am what I am. And he labored for God, not paralyzed by being consumed with his past. Well, I'd encourage you to ask, what are you rehashing from your past? What do you continue to go over and over again, that you regret? Whether it's from the time before you were a Christian or even as a Christian, as it continues to struggle with sin. And once you've learned the lessons that there are to be learned, you need to let those things go. I've had people tell me, you know, I can't change this or that in the present because of what happened to me in the past. Well, that's just not true. That's not true according to the Gospel. That Jesus Christ has taken care of our sins And we can remember these things in order to encourage us not to go back there. But God gives us the grace that we can change. We can change and live in ways that please Him now. And so God's focus is not fundamentally on the past. I mean, Jesus Christ has taken care of that, but the focus is on the future, and that's in fact what we see in this passage here in chapter 8. That's where the emphasis lies. And so let's see, secondly, that we need to learn to look to the promises that God has given us for our future. God focuses on what He's planned in the future. Because He loves His people, zealously loves His people, and loves you, if you're one of His children, and He's committed to dwell with His people, you're a part of promises of what He's going to do. Now, we could spend a long time in this chapter, and I'm just going to try to summarize some of the different promises that are in here as we've seen them in this chapter. Look first at the promise of peace and prosperity in verses 4 and 5. He says, here's what the city, which is basically a dump heap right now, is going to be. There'll be old men and old women sitting in the streets, leaning on their canes, and the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing. And I read somewhere, a commentator, that you can't think of a more beautiful image of peace and prosperity than old folks sitting on the porch, as it were, and young children playing. Not afraid. The last remembrances of Jerusalem were the hostile armies surrounding it, people starving inside, and then utter destruction. And here's a picture totally different. And I think it's quite striking, you have both extremes and the ages represented. This is a sign of good things. And I say this often when I'm interacting with some of the university people through the ministry there, is that the church is a special place, which unlike the college ministry, because we have the old leaning on their canes and we have the young children both in the church, and this is a sign of blessing. when we have these children playing. So children, we don't want you playing in the sanctuary, but we love the signs of children playing. It's a beautiful picture of the prosperity God has promised to bless His people. And if you're a part of His people, This is a sign of blessing that's going to come to his church as well. Peace and prosperity. See, secondly, there that he's going to gather his people in verses 7 and 8. He talks about, I will save my people from the land of the East and from the land of the West. Remember, there's only about 40,000 exiles that have come back and many more people still living out in Babylon and other places than there are back in Judah. And God's saying, I'm gathering my people. And that was going to happen to some extent here with the Israelites, but again, this is looking forward to the church age, when God gathers all his people together. The church is included once again in this. You see also there's going to be reversal of their suffering. Look at verse 10. Before these days, it's saying, there were no wages for man, nor hire for beasts. There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in. For I set all men, everyone against his neighbor. And if you look at the first chapter of Haggai, you see there's tremendous deprivation in the land. There's been a drought. God's not provided for them. And they're dealing with poverty, severe poverty, and other difficulties. And the situation is not good. But what does God promise? If you look down there, starting in verse 11, I will not treat the remnant, those who have returned, as in the former days. What's going to happen? The seed will be prosperous. The vine will give its fruit. The ground will give her increase. The heavens will give their due. So the description here is a blessing. God will pour out His blessing on His people. And look at the reversal in verse 13. You are a curse among the nations. And what that means, the idea is you're an example of a curse. And somebody would say, may you be like the Jews. That's how bad it was for them. That would be a curse. What had happened to them, just utterly destroyed and cast out. And now you're going to be a blessing. So if you wanted to bless someone, you would say, may you be like the Jews. An example of blessing that God had poured out so much favor upon His people as He brings them back. And again, we see the idea here of the Church. and the blessing on God's people, that we are a part of this as well. See, verses 14 says God was determined to punish them, and we know that He did in fact punish them, but just as He was determined to do that, verse 15 says, in these days I am determined to do good to you. God has committed Himself to blessing His people. And again, He does the same in the lives of His people today. You see also that he's going to restore their joy in verses 18 and 19 And here we have really the answer or at least the closest thing we get to an answer to their question about these fasts They have these these four minor fast days that they had instituted to commemorate the siege of Jerusalem the fall of Jerusalem the destruction of the temple and and then the murder of the governor that had been left in the land and they would Fast and what does God say? He says that these times of sorrow are going to be turned into times of joy and celebration. This is interesting because it's not a command to stop the fasts, but it does tell them that in God's grace, He's going to take these times of sorrow, as they remember their judgment, and turn them into times of feasting and celebration. As they understand now, God has blessed them, has restored their fortunes, and really that He used that judgment even, those difficult times, for their good. And then finally, we see that there's also a pointing us here to the advancement of the Gospel. Now what's interesting about these four fast days is that the Jews still celebrate these fast days today. So in some sense, this promise has never been fulfilled in the lives of the Jewish people. And still today, they celebrate these four minor fasts. They've never been experienced. You'll see again, this is how we have to understand it. The Christians, very early on, quit celebrating these fasts, quit observing these fasts. Those who became Christians when Jesus came on the scene. And they were largely Jews. They gave up these fasts. The promises are fulfilled in the church. in the gospel, and we can see very clearly this is talking about the gospel fulfillment of this in verses 20 through 22. People shall come, inhabitants of many cities. You have groups inviting other groups. Let's continue to go and pray before the Lord. And I myself will go also. Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before... I mean, when does this happen? When is it that nations and people from around the world come to worship God in Jerusalem, to seek Him in Jerusalem? Well, it's not the literal city of Jerusalem. It's the church. It's the New Jerusalem. It's God's people. And this is the idea, God is going to bless his people, he's going to build his church, and the gospel is going to go forward. So here's the solution to being mired in your past, is to look at the promises that God has given for the future. These are all tremendous blessings, and if you are a child of God, if you are trusting in Jesus Christ, you are an heir to these promises. These promises are for you. You are a part of this picture. as one who has sought God in his dwelling place now. And the irony of this is that fear of the future often is what causes people great anxiety in the present, and God wants them to realize that their future is certain in Jesus Christ. It is going to be glorious and that they can rejoice and face the future with hope and expectation. Well, if they do that, This will allow them to live properly in the present. So the third point is that we ought to learn from our past, look expectantly to our future, but live in the present. And this is ultimately where God wants us to live. We use the past to teach us, we look at the future to give us our perspective, and then we are faithful in the present. And this is what Zechariah is telling the people. Look at verse 9. He tells them, let your hands be strong. Okay, then there's a little parenthetical there. Who's he talking to? You who have been hearing in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets who spoke in the days of the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord of hosts. All that's a parenthetical. Who are we talking about? You who have been listening to Haggai and Zechariah preach. What is the completion of this idea? Let your hands be strong. Look at the last part of the verse, that the temple might be built. We're not letting go of this idea that you have work to do, he's telling the people, and that you need to do it. So yes, we want to obey in a general sense in the present, but there's a specific command here to do the work God has given you to do right now. This is the immediate task at hand. They're halfway through this project. And he's telling them, yes, you look back and you learn from it. You don't let it dominate you and rule you. You look forward with expectation, but you must work in the present. Be obedient in the present. And then this spins itself out, if you look down in verses 16 and 17, it talks about specific ways that they are to be living and interacting with each other. speak truth to each other, to give judgment in the gates, right, that they would have, this is what we refer to their court system, the men meeting in the gates to render judgment, not even to think evil about their neighbor, because God hates this. Again, this is amongst God's people. He hates it when we don't obey Him. We're not obeying Him to earn His favor, we're obeying Him because we want to please our God. And this is the idea, that we would labor in the present. I read an interesting brief biography of a man named Marty Nemko, who today is a pretty famous career counselor, and he writes sometimes for the U.S. News and World Report. But he said that his father was a Holocaust survivor and lost his entire family to the Nazis, and said that he himself spent five years in a prison camp And he said that when this all ended, after the war, my father was dumped onto a cargo boat and dropped in the Bronx with no English, no money, no education, no contacts. His first job was sewing shirts in a Harlem factory. On the weekend, he sold shirts he'd sewn on the street out of a cardboard box, and he did that until he saved enough money for the first and last month's rent on the tiniest, smelliest store in New York City. And he gives the address and says, on one side was a live chicken market spewing the aroma of stale blood, and on the other side was a Puerto Rican deli. So the smell of blood merged with the smell of deep-fried pork intestines. So he says to his dad, when he's about 12, Dad, how come you never complain? And he says his response was one of the most important lessons he'd ever learned. He said, Martin, the Nazis took five years from my life. I will not give them one minute more. Martin, never look back. Always move forward. See, here's a guy who had every reason from human standpoint to be bitter about his past, to allow that to cloud his entire life. And I would guess most of us know people who live this way. All they'll talk about is who did them wrong in the past or what happened to them in the past. And if ever a person had a reason for that, that would be this man. But he doesn't do that. He has a vision of a better life for himself and for his children. And so what does he do? He just works in the present. He obeys and does what he's been called to do in the present. And it's not necessarily glamorous. But what happens? You know, his children are now, in some sense, living out the American dream. But this is what we have to look at as ourselves. What is it that God is calling you to do? What has He called you to do in this community where you live? Whether it's in the university, or in your neighborhood, or at your job. What is He calling you to do in this faith community that you're a part of, in the church? What is the work that He's giving you? You allow the past and the present to form some context for you, but you have to work faithfully serving Him in the present. And I think we might ask, well, how do we do this? How do we live faithfully in the present? It requires trusting your Savior, our final point this evening. Living in the present requires trusting your Savior. This is the basis for an obedient life in the present. Look back at verse 6. It tells us something important. It's something we have to get by inference. So the Lord makes these promises about what's going to happen. And then what does He say here? If it is marvelous, as some of your translations say, wonderful. It's marvelous in the eyes of the women of this people in these days. Will it also be marvelous in my eyes, says the Lord of Hosts. So what is he getting at here? Well, the English Standard Version kind of is helpful because it translates marvelous as too difficult. And that's kind of the sense of how it's being used here. This thing is too incredible. And so you hear these promises and you say, no way. We look around and see the status of our situation that we're in, these Jews, and it's not great at that time, and they say, no way, it's too incredible to believe. And God here is reproving them and saying, it's marvelous in your eyes, it's incredible in your eyes, does that mean it's too difficult for me to do it? And it really gets at part of the issue here, which is they were not trusting God. See, they were evaluating God based on what they thought was possible. One of the commentators on this book that I really like says, the common error of man in regard to God is judging of Him by themselves. See, we look at God and we evaluate what God's going to do or what's possible based on what we think is possible. And God is telling them, don't think like that. God gave them promises here that were amazing, and we can look back and see how they were fulfilled in incredible ways. And see, we have to realize this is a situation for us. These promises that God has given to be our God, to cause us to actually grow in holiness, to actually become more like Jesus Christ, to ultimately be perfected, these are all promises He has given you. And we can look at our current situation and say, no way will I ever have victory over this or that area in my life where I'm struggling. And God says it's not too marvelous for God that we believe Him when He makes these promises to us. Well, the other thing to notice here, I think, is something that we get out of verse 23. We have to trust God in order to live obediently. And here we have a fascinating promise. In those days, ten men from every language of the nations will grasp the sleeve, and I think every translation I looked at had a different word here, it was the hem, the robe, the garment, would grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. In what way is this promise fulfilled? You see people around the world grasping the sleeve of Jewish men. You might argue that the Jews are the most hated people on the planet. Not by everybody, certainly, but in terms of intensity of feeling, anyway. It hardly seems like we're anywhere near having this fulfilled. And yet here's a picture of many people, 10 to 1 ratio, people grabbing the sleeve of a Jewish man. And yet from our perspective, we can look back and see that today, there are men and women and boys and girls from all over the entire world who have a relationship with God because they have clung to the skirt of a Jewish man named Jesus, in a sense. that Jesus Christ fulfills all of these things that we've been talking about, and He is truly God with us. And He is the basis for our believing the promises in the present and obeying in the present. We look back with confidence because of what He's done on the cross. We look forward with confidence because of what He's promised. And we live obediently in the present because we cling to Him. The Scriptures tell us about a woman who for 12 years could not stop a bloody discharge that was afflicting her. And this woman, it tells us, had spent every bit of her money on doctors, and that these doctors had only made things worse. And you understand what this would have meant, right? Ceremonially unclean, not able to go to the temple, not able to be with the people. And of course in those days if you had such an affliction, that would be because you were a sinner, right? These things only happen to you if you deserved it. And so this person would have been totally ostracized, would have had a horrible past to look back on and no hope for the future. And she could have allowed that to destroy her But we're told that she fought her way through the crowds so that she could grab onto the robe of Jesus Christ and receive healing and receive salvation. And she found that in Jesus, living obediently to the best of her ability in the present, because he trusted in this one Jesus Christ. And this is the idea for us. Every one of you have made mistakes in the past, and you will be tempted to revisit those and let those haunt you. And every one of you will face uncertainties about the future. And you will be tempted to worry and be anxious about those, too. But God wants you to remember that in Jesus Christ, He has taken care of your past and He has promised you great things for your future. And what He wants you to do is to live in faith and obedience, trusting in Him day by day in the present. And this, we pray, He will enable us to do by His grace. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do rejoice that in Jesus Christ, you have saved your people. You have dealt with the sins of the past. You have given us certainty of blessing in the future. Lord, help us, we pray, to believe you, to face each day clinging to our Savior. in faith, as you would enable us. And Lord, we pray you would enable us to live obediently, doing the things you have called us to do in the present, that you might be glorified, that our Savior might be glorified. Help us, we pray, as each one of us struggles with these things from time to time at a different extent. Help us, we pray, Lord, to see this all through the lens of what you have done in Jesus Christ. And give us grace, we pray, to obey you now in the present. We ask these things in our Savior's name. Amen.